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SMPTe
The idea of Transatlantic started with Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy (drums and vocals).
He called Neal Morse, of Spock's Beard (vocals, keyboards and guitar), who enlisted the Flower King a.k.a. Roine Stolt (vocals and guitars). Portney, having long been a Marillion fan, contacted Pete Trewavas (bass and vocals) - and thus begins the band ...
Although this is a particularly lengthy album, it contains only five tracks!
The first, 'All Of The Above', was an idea originally conceived by Morse. It was the first track recorded by the band and runs to over thirty minutes. Anybody who knows Spock's Beard will feel instantly at home with this number - Morse's distinctive voice and keyboards are well to the fore, although there are some Flower King inspired embellishments. Inevitably with a song of this length, there are a myriad of mood and tempo changes and a whole host of musical combinations. There are some fabulous bursts of Morse's characteristic piano playing and lashings of his Hammond organ and, towards the end, a wonderful piece of guitar virtuosity from Stolt. A tremendous opus.
The second track is 'We All Need Some Light'. It's the shortest track on the album at less than six minutes, and has a lovely sensitive sound - think along the lines of Morse's solo work.
'Mystery Train' is another Morse song and, indeed, it begins with the typical idiosyncratic Beard's-type keyboards and vocal harmonies. In fact, it makes one wonder how much input the rest of the Beard's
actually have - although this album was mixed by Rich Mouser who has worked with S.B. several times in the past.
A change of feel for the next track, 'My New World'.
This is a Roine Stolt number and it begins with banks of orchestration and Stolt's charmingly accented voice leads the way into the piece. Here is the where the real fascination of this album lies: the juxtaposition of two such great talents; one European, one American; both leaders of their own bands - with the stalwart support of an eminent rhythm section. The result? ... a marvellous conglomeration.
The last track is an obscure Procal Harem number, 'In Held (Twas) I'. Transatlantic have definitely retained the Procal Harem spirit here (I can't say how close it is to the original as I don't actually know
it!) The vocals are shared individually and together, in harmony. Musically, the band play well together, the sound is stately, pure and clear and special mention must be made of Stolt's fantastic guitar
playing. Towards the end of the piece stately becomes downright majestic, the number ending with a sound that is more than slightly reminiscent of the early days of Queen.
So, does the prog rock supergroup live up to its reputation? ... The answer is undoubtedly a resounding YES. This should be a must have for anyone with even a passing interest in modern prog rock.
The title is not just the band's initials, it is also a communication code used in studio recording ... let Transatlantic communicate with you.
Marisa 23rd February 2000
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SMPTe - limited edition
This limited edition of the new Transatlantic album comes as a CD sized hard cover book inside of which you find, at the beginning and end, pouches to hold the two CDs. Between these are thirty two pages, in a
variety of subtle (and not so subtle) hues, containing the album lyrics, an interview with all four members of the band and lots of pictures in both colour and monotone. The booklet is designed by Hippified
Art (they do all the Flower Kings' covers), and a jolly good job they've made of it too ...
The first CD is the standard album - see above for a review of this.
The second CD starts with alternative versions of two songs; 'My New World' and 'We All Need Some Light'. In fact, 'My New World' covers the first two tracks of the CD and is a version of the song with a completely different set of verses, sung by Neal Morse. Between the penultimate and last verse there's a wonderfully frenetic section that was toned down considerably in the final cut.
'We All Need Some Light' is a Morse song. Roine Stolt's voice gives this a gentle softness contrasting strongly with Morse's version which, in comparison, appears to almost bounce along. A couple of fun
studio jams come next ... a mercifully brief rendition of 'Honky Tonk Woman', followed by 'Oh Darlin''.
The last track is the original Stilt demo of 'My Cruel World' which metamorphosed into 'My New World'.
'MNW', in fact, stays close to the original for the first half of the song - although the chorus is beefed up a bit - but the second half has definitely been Morsed!
Lastly on the CD is an interactive section. Filmed in the studio while recording, it's just over six minutes of clips featuring all of the band members - and Neal's small son on drums!
While not blindingly exciting, it's an interesting look behind the scenes.
This special version of the album is worth getting purely for the three reworked tracks - the rest, while interesting, is not essential listening/viewing - add this to the superbly produced packaging and it makes a
great buy.
Reading the notes inside, it looks like 'SMPTe' will not be a one off. If the guys can make music like this straight off, we'll all be expecting great things from them in the future ...
Marisa 3rd May, 2000
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LIVE IN AMERICA
Track Listing: Disc one: All Of The Above (30:47), Mystery Train / Magical Mystery Tour / Strawberry Fields Forever (15:32), We All Need Some Light (6:51).
Disc two: Watcher Of The Skies / Firth Of Fifth
(10:47), My New World (16:51), Medley: There Is More To This World / Go The Way You Go / The Great Escape / Finally Free / She's So Heavy (19:10).
It has to be said that it is surely a little premature for Transatlantic to be releasing a live double CD, recorded on only their sixth gig together and after only one studio album.
However, the members of the band have a combined history that totals many albums and the interest in this prog supergroup is very high, so perhaps you can't blame them for releasing it so soon.
Recorded on their short summer 2000 batch of dates in the USA, this features most of the music from their debut disc and a bunch of covers too. The package has an excellent full colour booklet with lots of
photos and notes from each member of the band. It is also represents very good value for money as you get the double CD for the price of a single one.
I have to say though that the sound quality is not always brilliant and the performances could be better in places. However, the power and excitement makes up for the lack of perfection and at least it is an
honest live record rather than one that has been doctored in the studio afterwards.
Perhaps surprisingly, it is Stolt's lead vocals that stand up better than Morse's but, in general, the vocals do suffer a bit compared to the studio originals.
The epic 'All Of The Above' kicks off the album and it is maybe this track that suffers most from lack of rehearsal time. Neal Morse's vocals are little wobbly in places and some of the more tricky arrangements
descend in to a bit of a muddle at times, but the instrumental breaks are really on fire and redeem the piece overall.
Likewise 'Mystery Train' which sounds raw and ragged but soon melts into a brief rendition of 'Magical Mystery Train' before becoming 'Strawberry Fields' which has a long meandering instrumental closing
section. 'We All Need Some Light', being a simpler piece, fares very well and has some lovely atmospheric acoustic guitar.
Disc two begins with the quiet intro of 'Watcher of The Skies' which lasts a couple of minutes before becoming a full blown cover of another Genesis classic 'Firth Of Fifth'. This is total magic with Pete's
bass playing really hitting the spot and Roine's guitar improvising around the main theme - excellent stuff.
'My New World', my favourite Transatlantic track, is also very good with Roine's guitar and vocals being very faithful to the original.
Finally, there's a medley of covers from the member's "day job" bands.
'There Is More To The World' and 'Go The Way You Go' are superb and manage to sound very close to The Flower Kings' and Spock's Beard versions. Marillion's 'The Great Escape' is not a song that I was familiar with, but I like it very much and Pete does an excellent job on the lead vocals. Likewise Dream Theater's 'Finally Free' which was unknown to me but sounds great. The whole thing is rounded off with Lennon and McCartney's 'She's So Heavy'.
I can't pretend this is one of my favourite live albums but it still has plenty of magic moments.
Personally I think the quality could be better and perhaps they should have waited until a more polished performance was available before committing to CD. Whatever you do, don't buy this instead of the SMPTe studio album, but if you're an existing fan and want something to tide you over until the second studio CD then, like me, you've probably got it already!
Steve 24/3/01
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BRIDGE ACROSS FOREVER
It only seems like only yesterday that the first Transatlantic album, 'SMPTe', was released. Many, including me, probably saw this as a one-off - not least because all the participants (Neal Morse, Roine Stolt,
Mike Portnoy and Pete Trewavas) have pretty hectic schedules anyway with their own bands. However, the chemistry between the band was apparently so good that they've created another album, and I can only
imagine that any fan of prog will be grateful for this, as 'Bridge Across Forever' is a cracker.
The album is composed of four 'tracks', although as you might expect these are made up of a variety of sub-tracks, with the three main pieces ('Duel With The Devil', 'Suite Charlotte Pike' and 'Stranger In Your
Soul') each containing musical and lyrical themes which reappear many times over the course of the CD.
Mournful strings open 'Duel With The Devil', before Neal Morse's piano begins to sketch out the opening instrumental theme; an instantly memorable one that is reprised at various times throughout the album.
There follows a lengthy instrumental section, with each musician contributing fully in what could almost be called an overture for the album. Particularly noticeable is the bass of Pete Trewavas - not because
all the other musicians are slouching, but you hear their musical dexterity in their day jobs, whereas Pete's role in Marillion means he is usually more restrained.
Here he gets the chance to cut loose and makes the most of it. Also obvious is the fantastic production job which has been done, with all four musicians given the chance to shine.
The instrumental section builds to a climax before Morse's dramatic vocal entrance kicks off 'Motherless Children', with symphonic keys providing the backing in the verse before the cracking chorus, which is
embellished second time around by harmony vocals - a welcome feature of this album throughout. Tasty Hammond organ leads us into a pastoral acoustic section ('Walk Away') with Roine Stolt taking lead vocal on
the verse (I'd wager he wrote the lyrics for his vocal sections as well - very Flower Kings-esque!) and Morse and Pete Trewavas alternating vocals on the dreamy, laid-back chorus.
An invigorating instrumental break, with Stolt riffing away in heavy style and Morse noodling over the top of the guitar, breaks off for a detour into ambient, almost freeform jazz territory, with Stolt playing some
fine guitar in an almost Steely Dan style. A soulful burst of saxophone adds to the atmosphere as this section builds to a climax before the main theme of the track is reprised and Morse recites his earlier
lyrics to a different backdrop in 'The Silence Of The Night', putting in an extremely impassioned performance, before very Spock's-like keys lead into another wonderful section, 'You're Not Alone' where Morse reins
in his vocals for a more soulful delivery.
The band now reprise the main theme for the latter part of the track ('Almost Home'), improvising around it and embellishing the 'Motherless Children' chorus with a children's choir, which is very effective, before
the song ends on a lengthy fade out.
The band open 'Suite Charlotte Pike' with a freeform bluesy jam which, if I'm not mistaken, owes something to Lenny Kravitz's 'American Woman'. The jam initially breaks up amidst much laughter before picking up
again as before. As soon as Neal Morse's vocals kick in, we're very much in Beatles land, with the band alternating between upbeat, catchy pop (' If She Runs', 'Temple Of The Gods') and more laid-back whimsy
('Mr Wonderful', a fine piece of pastoral pop rock on which Stolt sings the lead).
The way these pieces are inter linked, and indeed the sound the band create, reminds me very much of the lengthy suite on 'Abbey Road'.
The harmony vocals, which throughout the album are superb, are particularly well utilised on this song, adding that extra edge. In keeping with the whole album, the 'Motherless Children' theme from 'Duel With
The Devil' is reprised towards the end of the track (with Stolt this time taking lead vocal), whilst the track ends with a section very reminiscent of Supertramp/ ELO, as those harmony vocals sweep along against a
cascading piano riff. Another fine track, different in style to the first but equally effective.
The band take a breather now for the title track, which in effect is a solo Neal Morse song, a simple, slightly dark-edged piano ballad. Morse's vocals are as usual spot on and the song provides a well-needed
break before we get back to the epics…
… And the final track 'Stranger In Your Soul' certainly is an epic! The song starts with a very similar string-laden opening to Duel With The Devil, then Mike Portnoy's tribal drumming builds up the tension
before plunging us into another dynamic instrumental passage. Things slow down and a Stolt guitar solo leads into the first vocal section, 'Sleeping Wide Awake', where Morse shares lead vocal duties with Pete Trewavas - again the contrast in vocal styles works very well.
This section ends with some solo organ and hushed group vocals before Stolt bursts in with the heavy riff which kicks off 'Hanging In The Balance', wherein all four vocalists trade lines against a pounding rhythm
section. Trewavas' galloping bass then veers the track off towards a reprise of the 'Lost & Found' section in 'Suite Charlotte Pike'. I've heard some criticism that this repeating of themes within
different songs shows a dearth of material on the band's part - I feel it actually gives the album much more consistency and shape, especially compared to 'SMPTe'.
The short vocal section gives way to another instrumental piece, with Portnoy and Trewavas again well to the fore, before things come to a virtual standstill and Neal Morse's solo piano takes over. Lovely keys
from Morse create a very relaxed, ambient feel, and his heartfelt vocals on 'Awakening The Stranger' are some of the best on the album.
When the other three musicians return to the fray it is in a more
restrained mode as the gradual build up of symphonic keys and strings lead into a reprisal of the track's main musical theme, before Stolt and Morse enjoy some tradeoff guitar and keyboard riffs.
Next up is 'Slide', where the vocals are sung over a jazzy, ambient backdrop and excellent harmony vocals are again the order of the day. As you'd expect, things build up to a typically grandiose ending, although the addition of yet another of those 'hidden tracks' at the end of the CD is a bit superfluous.
Frankly this album is a joy to listen to from beginning to end. Four musicians at the peak of their powers creating some of the best prog I've heard in a while.
I guess small criticisms could be leveled if you wanted to nit-pick, but in this case I'm not going to - I'll just simply say that this is a great album which I'm confident all prog fans will enjoy; if you haven't got a ticket to see them on their forthcoming European tour, get one now - this stuff should be even better live!
Tom 23/10/01
Tom has had some weeks listening to the album to come up with this in depth analysis; here's another brief view...
I got the TransAtlantic album a couple of days ago and my initial reaction is that it is better than 'SMPTe'. It sounds more of a band effort although there is still a tendency for Morse and the SB
sound to dominate.
There is some of that familiar formulaic structure to some of the tracks; a slow build up, introductory instrumental theme, with a heavy guitar / hammond organ mid section, and the obligatory majestic finale -
on this effort though, I don't find this quite as annoying.
'Suite Charlotte Pike' is a little different, and I like the opening of 'Stranger in your Soul'. One concern is the increased use of harmonies and occasional vocals by Trewavas and Portnoy - I have not seen the
band live, but I have seen the live video - Trewavas is dreadful and Portnoy's vocal efforts are embarrassing. I hope these boys have worked on the vocals before the gig next month.
I think the bonus CD is a better effort than the previous one.
A good version of Floyd's 'Shine On', which sounds like an early draft of 'Duel With The Devil' (very keyboard dominated), and a demo from Stolt that also forms the basis of 'DDWD' but is much more in the Flower Kings vein. Unfortunately there are a couple of pretty dire studio jams; 'Smoke On The Water' and the Beatles' 'And I Love Her' - almost 9 minutes of it!
Despite that, I do like the album and have been listening to it constantly since Saturday.
John 15/10/01
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LIVE IN EUROPE
Tracklist: CD1: Duel With the Devil (26:00); My New World (16:20); We All Need Some Light (6:41); Suite Charlotte Pike Medley (30:00)
CD2: Stranger In Your Soul (30:36); All Of the Above (30:19)
Neal Morse and Roine Stolt seem to have had lot of market presence of late, and now we have yet another live album featuring the partners in crime. It seems odd to me that Transatlantic, a band that
recorded only two studio albums, should now look to releasing a second live album. Call me cynical but this seems like overkill at best, cashing in at worst.
So, what of the content?
'Live In Europe' was recorded at a single show at Tilburg as part of the band's 'Bridge Across Forever' tour. As I have often said before in reviews I'm not really a fan of 'Live' albums, as what you heard at the show is usually a very sanitised version of what you get on the night, but, despite any personal misgivings I may have, this recording comes across pretty well.
Sound quality and production are generally very good, and despite the occasional wobble there is not much to gripe about with regard to the performance itself. In terms of audience interaction, some of the
band's banter has been left in place, but here I could not help feel that things would have been improved if the profanities had been omitted - really I'm not prudish about such things, but it just seems so
unprofessional. After all this album will still be around after the band members are long forgotten.
In terms of musical content, pretty much everything is here.
As this is a double CD, it features just about all the original material that the band recorded in their brief career. The exceptions are Mystery Train (from the first album) and Bridge across forever (from the second) - two tracks that barely cover 12 and a half minutes playtime. The only other track not to be covered from the studio albums is 'In held Twas (in) I' - but this was a cover of an old Procol Harum track.
The presentation does have some deviation from the studio album versions of the tracks, but unless you know the originals really well you may be hard pressed to spot the differences without actually playing them back
to back. As a result I found that in some ways new release succeeds better as a greatest hits compilation than it does as a live album.
I suppose that my reticence towards 'live' albums may be affecting my outlook to some extent since this is by no means a bad album, on the contrary, it sounds very good and in terms of play time offers good
value. For me the biggest drawback is simply that I just don't see that it really gives the fans anything they don't already have.
I guess many fans will probably want to buy this album if only to complete the collection, but with a DVD waiting in the wings, to be honest, you may want to save your money and get that instead.
On the other hand if you are not familiar with Transatlantic and you like to listen to Epic progressive tracks, then this could be for you - but be warned, you probably don't need the studio albums as well!
Simon - 23rd November 2003
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